Which Little Piggy…
Above is a shot of the salami that is drying in the aging box at Primehouse, we made this a few weeks ago from the whole pigs we purchased. I tasted it yesterday and it has about a week to go before its ready. The pancetta pictured below is almost ready; it looks beautiful and smells fantastic. I can’t wait to start cooking with this, one more step closer to truly making everything in house which is a hard task for such a busy operation!
Flesh Of The Gods
There is no denying the power of the porcini mushroom, the first time it graces your mouth your life is changed forever. Today I received 20 pounds of porcini mushrooms; I’m so excited I ordered 30 more pounds for tomorrow to preserve for use at a later date. I have been dreaming lately about working with some porcinis. I have to admit; I cleaned some up, tossed them in some oil, salt and pepper and grilled them off for a snack. Now that’s what I call benefits, how many people out there get to do that for an after breakfast snack? Tonight I will feature a salad of grilled porcinis, lombardy spinach, pepato cheese and warm benton bacon dressing. Time to go play with the chanterelles that arrived today and look fantastic, I bet they taste even better!
Porcinis on the grill!
ASPEN FOOD & WINE Quick Recap
Ive spent the last few days in Aspen, CO at the food and wine festival. Friday and Saturday my Banquet Chef Erik and I worked our butts off, friday we made 600 sliders for Sam Adams burger bash at the little nell. Sat we cooked 180 pounds of dry aged ribeye and served in the tent. Sunday was our day to enjoy the show and more of Aspen, unfortunately today I was bumped from my flight and cannot get back to Chicago, ugghhh another day in ASPEN!!! I’m keeping this short because I’m going back out to enjoy this great city, its the devils playground! I’ll write more later, time to go play!
Fresh German Chamomile
Today I need to clip this beautiful German chamomile from my garden and start to dry it for my first batch of tea for the year. Many nights I chop up the fresh plant and make a beautiful tea, mostly I harvest a few times a season and dry it completely for later use.
The Beauty Of Pork
Recently I purchased 2 whole hogs from my old friend George Rasmussen of Swan Creek Farm. When he pulled up to the restaurant it quickly spread through the kitchen that our little piggy’s arrived and the crew ran out to the trailer parked on Ontario Street like it was Christmas morning.
After freaking out some people walking down the street because I guess they believe meat comes in cute little packages with cartoons on them like in the grocery store and not from real animals! Really people? Come on! We brought them inside and freaked out some of the housekeeping staff who ended up praying because they were stuck in the elevator with the pigs; when we finally arrived to the butcher shop and weighed them… 396 pounds of pure yummy pork! A few days later the crew and I broke down the pigs, it was great to have the pastry department butchering as well. Even our front of house staff showed up to watch and take pictures!
So what did we do with all of this pork?
Tete de cochon, 4 prosciutto, 40# of salami, 40# soprassata, bbq spare ribs, various loin specials, pancetta, roasted pork glace & crispy pork rinds.
Rhubeer – Rhubarb Infused Belgian Wit
Rhubeer – in second fermentation, I brewed this for the first Market Mystery Soiree on June 24, 2009
From The Kitchen Of Rick Gresh:
Rhubeer – Rhubarb Infused Belgian Wit
4 ¾ # British 2-row lager malt
4 ½ # Wheat Malt
8 oz Rice Hulls
2 ½ gallons Water mash @ 130°F – 40 minutes
5 gallons Water mash @ 200°F – 50 minutes
5 gallons Water sparge @ 170°F
4 oz Belgian clear candi sugar
25 grams Hallertau Hersbrucker @ 3%
60 minute boil
6 # Rhubarb, washed, unpeeled, chopped
30 minute boil
1 tsp Bitter orange peel
½ tsp Coriander, crushed
1 tsp Irish moss
Boil for 10 min with a 15 minute rest
Wyeast’s 3944 Belgian White Beer Yeast
Add when wort is 70 Degrees
After 7 day first fermentation, place into second fermentation with:
5# rhubarb chopped and cooked in 2 cups water until tender, puree/chinois
Ferment for 10 days.
Strain
Add 5 oz priming sugar for bottling or
Add 1/3 cup priming sugar for keg
Condition @ 70°F for 7 days
Chill and enjoy
Original Gravity 1.09
Final Gravity1.21
Sam Adams Sanctuary
The woodshop is my sanctuary, of all the hobbies I have, building furniture really soothes my soul. After a crazy week at work, to head to the shop and hear the roar of the tools or spend the time hand planning a board is heaven. The smell of the wood as I cut and sand enhances the experience, the different aromas between tiger maple, African mahogany and cherry is like walking through the kitchen when someone is roasting garlic, pickling green beans and baking an apple tart. The time it takes to fit joints together with precision is peaceful. I haven’t spent that much time in the shop lately because work has been out of control busy. Today no blackberry, no interruptions, a cup of coffee and my faithful shop assistant Mr. Peabody. We have a simple project ahead of us; we need to build two shelves for my upcoming trip to Aspen, Colorado for the Aspen Food & Wine Festival which I will be serving our food on these at the Sam Adams booth next Saturday, stop by and say hellow if your in Aspen!
Passion For Cheese
I love cheese, what’s not to love about it? I was searching through some photos on my computer and came across my cheese cart when I was the Chef at Caliterra. What started out as some California and Italian cheese grew into this cart in about 3 months. Either myself or my Sous Chef Trevor would wheel this around the hotel (even up to guests rooms) to sell cheese. There would be nights Trevor would go the bar/lounge area for hour’s just selling cheese while I expedited in the kitchen. Guests we simply amazed that I had 50 plus cheeses and knew the story on every one, it really was great to talk cheese with people. I could get to know someone’s palette by talking to them and walking them through a tasting. One of my favorite memories was when a couple who I had a feeling was on a first date ordered the cheese cart. The guy was insisting on epoisses, it doesn’t help I dubbed it the” bad boy of French cheese”. This particular cheese was especially ripe; it was going to stay on his palette all night long if you know what I mean. So I had to ask the question, are you two on a first date? The lady responded yes. I made a statement like it must be going well if you’re staying for cheese. She replied it going very well as she gazed across the table. I looked at the guy and he was happy to hear her response. This is when “Chef Law” came into play, I turned toward the gentleman and said “I’m doing you a favor tonight; I can’t serve you this cheese. If I give you this epoisses your night will end earlier then you want, trust me on this one. You can come back anytime; I will serve you this cheese for free, but tonight is not the night.” He understood what I was saying; they had a great cheese course and went on their way. About 2 weeks later they were back; I kept my promise and served forth the epoisses. Afterwards she came up to me and gave me a big hug; she thanked me because her first kiss was forever not a kiss full of epoisses! I’m happy to say that every now and then I see them out, married now and still laughing about their first date.
Original Carrot Top
It’s great to see my garden finally growing; all of this cool wet weather has really slowed things down. Today is absolutely beautiful and I will be outside planting more seeds, more flowers and tending to the garden. My vegetable garden is 20 feet wide by 32 feet long, I compost all vegetable scraps, lawn clippings, ash from the fire pit as well as leaves etc. throughout the year. This is year 4 of the garden and the soil is finally getting there, the compost really enriches the soil and the lime has helped break down so much of the clay that it’s a lighter well drained soil. Previously my home was an apple orchard, different soil needs to grow trees, but like anything it takes time to perfect. I have herbs planted around my deck and patio and my fruit crops and lettuces are by the garage. My buddy Rod Markus from pasture to plate hooked me up with some amazing seaweed based fertilizer, the plants love this and immediately grow like crazy.
Here is a rundown of what’s in the garden this year:
Vidalia onions, green onions, French breakfast radishes, red radishes, Thumbelina carrots, dragon carrots, red & gold & candy striped beets, swiss chard, arugula, green zucchini, pickling cucumbers, sweet market more cucumbers, straight 8 cucumbers, watermelon, Thai peppers, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, pole beans, shelling peas, corn, Brandywine tomatoes, green zebra tomatoes, san marzano tomatoes, golden cherry tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, spearmint, thyme, chives, German garlic, German chamomile, oregano, rosemary, sweet basil, cilantro, sage, lavender and strawberries.
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